The app-based bank has introduced a four-day working week for its 500 employees, without altering their salaries. The firm stated this change resulted in an increase in job applications
Atom bank has hit out at the dominance of large UK lenders, accusing them of providing “indifferent” customer service, as it celebrates a record-breaking year of profits.
The app-based bank, which offers savings accounts, mortgages and loans, announced an operating profit of £27million for the year ending in March, a figure seven times higher than the previous year. It also reported its first annual pre-tax profit since its launch ten years ago.
The company, unique among British banks for offering employees a four-day week without a pay cut, hailed this financial performance as its “best year yet”. Chief executive Mark Mullen admitted that it was challenging for newcomers to “disrupt the status quo” in the banking sector.
He said: “UK banking remains dominated by players with low growth, high costs and indifferent customer service. We remain entirely focused on serving the needs of borrowers and savers, without the soaring costs and operational complexity of transactional banking products like current accounts.”
Atom bank claimed it had “comfortably outperformed the major high street lenders and building societies when it comes to offering savings customers a better deal”. Currently, Atom offers annual interest rates of up to 5.15% on some of its fixed-rate savings products.
The bank also disclosed that customers borrowed a total of £4.1billion last year, a 39% increase from the previous year, with residential mortgage balances skyrocketing by 55%. The company, based in Durham, revealed that it had successfully kept its business costs low throughout the year and had secured £100million from current investors in November.
Last year, it implemented a four-day working week for its 500 employees, without altering their salaries. The firm stated this change resulted in an increase in job applications.
